Siti Channel, which was conceived as a cable channel from the Zee stable in 1994, created a buzz in the market in 2004 when it went satellite and was available to Indian viewers across the country. In the second level of transformation, Siti Channel has become Channel Siti from February 24, 2006, and the change is accompanied by a new look and feel with a complete content overhaul.

Gaurav Goel, Head, Channel Siti, said, “Sit Channel was getting in the mode of organised programming and we wanted the channel to air uniform content across the country. We had infused this with parallel city-centric cable channels that had city specific content, channel ID and logo.”

What led to the revamp? Goel replied, “When we became a satellite channel, we didn’t change much content wise. We were still showing movies from the Zee library and reruns of Zee programming. In this revamp, we have completely changed this.”

Goel explained that in a bid to rope in different age groups for the channel, Channel Siti had divided its day in different parts – the mornings aimed at the older TG, afternoons were for the middle-aged family audience, particularly housewives, while evenings would be targeted at the youth.

The channel has injected two movie slots –matinee and the evening slot. “In all, we will be showing 60 movies in a month and these can be just about any movie that we think makes sense to our TG in that particular slot. Also, we have created three hours of original programming for the channel,” Goel said.

He explained that hitherto even the programming that was done was extremely basic, the format actually involving single cameras. The channel now has created advanced programming in the evening block, 8.00 pm onwards, again keeping the specific TGs in mind. While on the one hand the content has been changed in this fashion, the look and feel of the channel has changed too.

“This is a complete overnight change. We have changed the name of the channel, as you know, and in addition to that we have also changed the logo, brand ID, station ID and everything else about the look and feel of the channel, too,” said Goel.

The changes are supported by a multimedia marketing campaign. “We have launched the campaign consuming national and regional media, in print, outdoor, and TVCs. You will see us in outdoor and below-the-line as well next month,” informed Goel.